IT Reshoring News

Indian IT Industry Tries to Defend Its H-1B Practices with Inaccurate Claims

Trump officials claim Indian companies take “the lion’s share” of H-1B visas yearly. The Indian IT industry denies it. We analyze the numbers to see who's telling the truth.

Indian IT is in a tit-for-tat with the Trump Administration.

On April 17, a Trump official (portrayed as “The US” by the India Economic Times) accused major Indian IT companies like Tata & InfoSys of gaming the H-1B system.

“You may know their names well, but like the top recipients of the H1B visa are companies like Tata, Infosys, Cognizant—they will apply for a very large number of visas, more than they get, by putting extra tickets in the lottery raffle, if you will, and then they’ll get the lion’s share of visas. Which is very different than I think how most people think of the H1B program—they imagine it for more—being for—again, they would think of it as being for skilled domestic work, rather than contract work.”

2016's visa numbers are even higher: 87,693 visas certified. The total number approved isn’t available yet, according to USCIS. But if they're anything like 2015's, then you're looking at the same percentage, or even higher.

Indian IT is on the Defensive, Which Benefits the U.S. IT Worker

Why this stretching of truth? Simple. They’re on the defensive.

From the same article as NASSCOM’s statement: “India has been bracing for the impact of Mr Trump’s plans to change regulations for H-1B visas…”

We’re beginning to see those now. Closing the fast-track process. The Executive Order on “Buy American, Hire American.” Companies like Tata and InfoSys stand to lose quite a lot of money. Money gained by displacing U.S. IT workers.

What do you think? Is the new administration unfairly targeting H-1Bs, or are these the contentious first steps needed for real reform?